Improvement in propelling canal-boats



UNITED STATEs PATENT OEEIcE.

VILLIAM F. GOODWIN, OF METUOHEN, NEV JERSEY.

lMPROVEIVIENT IN PROPELLING CANAL-BOATS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 101,004, dated March22, 1870.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. GOODWIN, of Metuehen, county ofMiddlesex, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Canal-Boats, of which the following is a full, clear,and exact description, reference being had to the accompanyin gdrawings, making a partof this speci- Ication, in which- Figure l is aplan or top view of my improved boat, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinalsectional view through line y, Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference denote correspondin g parts in bothiigures.

My improvement is intended to be applied more particularly tocanal-boats and all others which are used in navigating narrow andshallow channels, such as bayous, small rivers, &c.

It has been considered a well-settled principle in navigation that theamount of water which a boat will displace in moving through it is justthe same, whatever may be her form, and that the amount of power whichis required to force the boat through the water can be diminished onlyby the employment of sharp lines in the construction of her bow; butthis involves a good deal of expense, and diminishes the amount ofstorage-room in a boat. In like manner there is a vacancy created at thestern of the boat, into which the water is drawn by suction, whichsuction is created by the same power used for propelling the boat. Now,it follows, as a matter of course, that the power required to eect thisdisplacement at the bow, and the replacement at the stern of the boat,is in addition to the power absorbed in overcoming the friction of thewater upon the sides and bottom, and when the boat is moving through anarrow channel like a canal this displacement becomes a seriousobstacle, from the fact that the water cannot readily ow past the sidesof the boat, but is literally piled up in front, and the increase in thepower required becomes so great that only very low rates of speed can beobtained, except at great expense.

Another and perhaps more serious objection to the use of steam-powerupon canals is that the wave created by both the boat and the propelling-wheel washes the banks to such an extent as to make its useimpracticable uw der any construction and arrangement which has hithertobeen employed.

By my construction, however, the rstnamed difficulty is overcome byplacing the propelling-wheel in front of the boat, extending the sidesof the boat in front of the bow, which may be made like an ordinaryscow, in such manner as to inclose the entire breadth and depth of waterto be displaced, so that when the wheel is put in motion the boat is notforced against the water which lies in front of it, thereby piling thewater up and throwing it oft' against the banks; but instead of this thewater is dra-wn in under the wheel and forced under the bottom of theboat, being discharged toward or at its extreme rear end, so that thewater, instead of being higher in front of the boat, is actually foundto be the highest behind it, and a boat can be propelled at the desiredrate of speed without producing the objectionable swell or wave, andwithout the employment of nearly so much power as is required in theconstruction iu present use.

The invention which I wish to protect by the Letters Patent asked for inthis application relates to the construction of a boat involving theprinciples of construction above set forth, and which is built insections, whereby it may be made of any desired length, and yet can betaken apart whenever it shall be necessary to pass through a lock.

The nature of the invention will be fully understood from the followingdescription of its construction and operation.

In the drawings, A represents the bow of the boat, made in the form of acommon scow, except that the sides are extended, as at a, in front ofthe bow far enough to inclose the propelling-wheel. The stern A is madepreferably in the saine form as the bow.

B B are intermediate sections, made of the same width and `depth as theend sections, but having square or upright ends to match and fit closelythe inner ends of the two outer sections, as shown in the drawings. C isa ratchet-plate secured to the side of the boat. O is a lever pivoted toplate C or to the side of the boat. c is a pawl attached to lever O',

and engaging with teeth formed in plate O. c is a link, also connectedat one end with lever C. D D are rods, each provid'ed'at one end with aperforation or eye, d, and at the other end with a hook, d.

There should be one set of these coupling devices upon each side of theboat, and by making the pair of rods used-with each section of the samelength as the section, and then connecting them together, as shown inthe drawings, any desired number may be attached to each other, andpropelled by the same power.

E is a paddle wheel or drum, mounted in radial arms E', said arms beingsupported upon the bow of the' boat in such manner that the wheel isfree to rise and fall, resting upon the water in the space incloscd bythe extended l sides ai.`

WM. F. GOODWIN.

Witnesses l ALEX. MAnoN, H. H. DOUBLEDAY.

